Did You Know?

Fabulous Facts About Florida State Parks:

• The Florida State Park system was established in 1935.

• The state park system contains 160 parks consisting of over 700,000 acres and over 100 miles of beautiful beaches.

• Caladesi Island in Dunedin was named the best beach in the nation for 2008 by Dr. Stephen Leatherman, also known as Dr. Beach.

• Over 20.7 million visitors were served in Florida State Parks during fiscal year 2007-2008.

• The Orman House Historic State Park is home to the only partial replica in the nation of the Three Servicemen Statue that stands at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

• Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park hosted the U.S. Postal Service's First-Day-of-Issue Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 41-cent commemorative First-Class stamp dedication ceremony in February of 2008.

• John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, acquired in 1959, was the first underwater state park in the U.S.

• Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park holds the largest collection of Civil War armaments in the U.S.

• Florida boasts the first and only two-time Gold Medal winner honoring the nation’s best state park service.